Far-right extremist jailed for life for murdering British MP Jo Cox
Jury convicts Thomas Mair of killing Labour lawmaker a week before Britain's EU membership referendum in June
A British jury on Wednesday found a man with white supremacist views guilty of murdering Labour lawmaker Jo Cox in June, a week before the country’s referendum on whether to leave the European Union.
Jurors at London’s Central Criminal Court deliberated for less than two hours before finding Thomas Mair guilty.
Mair was jailed for life, with the court saying he would remain in prison until he dies due to the “exceptional circumstances” of the crime.
The jury at London’s Old Bailey central criminal court convicted the 53-year-old of shooting and stabbing the 41-year-old mother-of-two as she arrived to meet with her constituents in northern England earlier this year.
Cox, a vocal supporter of the EU, was shot and stabbed in broad daylight outside of a library in Birstall on June 16.
Witnesses said Mair shouted “Britain First” as he attacked her.
At his first court hearing he gave his name as “death to traitors, freedom for Britain.”
Prosecutors said his home was full of Nazi literature and memorabilia.
Jurors were told that Mair had pleaded not guilty, but his lawyers presented no evidence in his defense.